Finding Your Way Home
by minty4794
Summary: Drunk!Klaus and Caroline meet up in a bar. Two-shot AU.
1. Chapter 1

A drabble in which Caroline helps a drunk Klaus home.

"Klaus!" Caroline's clear voice rang through the air. Klaus turned his head towards the musical sound, smiling in appreciation. It sounded amazing, hearing her call his name out.

"Ah, Caroline. Care to join me for a drink, love?" he slurred slightly. Truth was, that night he already had drank too many drinks to count, and he was feeling decidedly woozy. It was a common occurrence to see him rip roaring drunk at the Mystic Grill. His life had been filled with sadness lately, with the death of his brother, Kol. He had thought to kill the whole lot of them leave town on many occasions, but something had always held him back. _Or someone_, he thought.

"Come on. You're drunk. Let's get you out of here," she said wearily, pulling him to his stumbling feet and tossing a couple twenties to cover his tab. As he stumbled more, she put his arm over her should and her arm around his waist.

"Ah, she finally comes around," Klaus breathed into her neck, feeling her warm arms wrapped around him. He felt the heat of Caroline's blush as she sighed and tugged him towards the door. "You're so beautiful when you do that, sweetheart," he breathed, taking in the delicious smell of her neck. How long had he waited to be so close to her, to have her take him in her arms and to feel her body press against his. And when it finally happened, he was drunk, too drunk. He knew he wouldn't be able to remember this incident in the morning. And that disconcerting fact mad him unbelievably angry. He was finally getting a moment to impress Caroline, and he wouldn't even remember it. Or worse, he would remember all the foolish things he knew he was about to say.

Throwing caution to the winds, Klaus put both of his arms around Caroline and held her in place, turning her face towards his with one hand. He hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking, and he dimly noted that they were now standing on the curb in front of the Mystic Grill.

He looked into her glowing blue eyes, which were pointed at the ground, and were full of resignation. "Why are you helping me?" He asked, mystified. He couldn't fathom why good, sweet Caroline, who had made it clear how much she detested him, was now suddenly taking care of his drunk arse.

Her eyes quickly flicked to his, full of nervousness and annoyance. "Look, it doesn't matter that much. For your information, I couldn't have you going on a murdering spree through town. I happen to actually like these people, and I don't want to see them dead." She stared at him pointedly, not so subtly reminding him of all of the people that he had killed.

Klaus grinned. Her strength and lack of fear enthralled him. She stared him down, not having the slightest fear for her own safety. He smirked at her. "Point taken, love. He took his hand off her chin and stroked her bare arm gently. He was satisfied when he felt a gentle shiver run through Caroline's body, suddenly incredibly aware of the intimate way that their bodies were pressed together. "I can be… quite.. unpredictable… when I'm drunk." He looked at her hungrily, not even bothering to hid the desire in his eyes.

Caroline's breath caught for a moment as Klaus grinned stupidly, now aware of the affect he had on her body. He leaned his head in a little closer to her, taking in her sweet scent, a combination of sea and citrus that was uniquely Caroline. He could feel the curves of her warm body, the way it was molded to his. As he moved in to lean his forehead into hers, he caught her staring at his lips. _Fuck it if I can't remember this,_ Klaus thought. _Might as well take the only chance I can get_.

Suddenly, a horn beeped and Caroline suddenly pushed him away from her. The absence of her heat felt like he had just stepped into a blizzard. The loss of the sensation of her touch, her scent, of _her,_ infuriated Klaus. His insides were screaming at him, to take her back in his arms and crush his lips to hers, and kiss her with enough passion to make her head spin.

He normally had more self control when he was sober, but he couldn't handle the closeness of her, especially now that they had almost kissed.

He was about to make his move, but her voice stopped him. "Klaus, this is your ride." She opened the door for him, and he attempted to move towards it, wobbling unsteadily on his feet. She sighed and half carried, half pushed him into the cab. Her hands on his body felt like firebrands, touching his very soul.

As she leaned back to slam the door shut, Caroline felt an iron grip around her wrist. Klaus stared at her beseechingly as she tried to pull her wrist away. Klaus grinned. Even drunk, he was stronger than this newbie vampire. "Caroline," he demurred. "I'm still very drunk. What if I'm driving by one of your lovely neighbors houses and I start getting a little… thirsty?"

"You're like, a billion years old. Shouldn't you be in control of yourself?" She scoffed, still trying to pull her wrist away.

"Please," he said, coming out a little more vulnerable than he intended. The truth was, he wasn't ready for Caroline to leave him. He felt a little lonely and needy, as usual, but his inebriated state allowed him to succumb to the impulse to beg Caroline.

Caroline looked at him surprise evident in her eyes. She studied his face for a moment, and Klaus thought she was going to refuse him again, like she always did. He hung his head, sighing as he loosened his grip on her wrist.

To his immense surprise and satisfaction, he felt her slide into the cab next to him, pushing on his chest to move him over to make room for herself as she quickly shut the door and the cab started. He let her push him over, enjoying the feeling of her hands on his body as her scent permeated the air.

Feeling a little sleepy and lonely, Klaus slowly incased he in his arms, resting his head in the crook of her neck, inhaling against her skin. Caroline shifted somewhat uncomfortably, sitting up straight, eyes straight ahead, hands on her lap.

"You never did tell me why you were helping me, sweetheart." Klaus murmured against her neck.

"Well, I told you that-"

"No, that's not it. If you were really worried I'd kill someone, you wouldn't be here." He lifted his head to stare into her eyes, sounding dazed. He tucked an errant curl behind her ear as he waited for her to answer him.

"You wouldn't kill me," she said absently.

"How do you know?" He scowled, knowing it was true.

"Because of your weird obsession with me!" She burst. "You think I don't notice the way you've been looking at me? I'm not an idiot."

"Neither am I, love." He replaced his head on her neck. "Don't think that I haven't noticed the way you look at me either, sweetheart. I've seen the hungry look in your eyes. I feel how your body reacts when I touch you. And tonight, when you showed up to save me from a drunken incident, I know that you care about me."

Caroline tensed up, sitting up straighter as the cab lurched to a stop in front of the Mikaelson mansion.

"Are you finished," she spat, pushing him off her.

"Come now Caroline, it-"

"You have a nice night now," she said coldly, turning away from him as he ran his hands through his hair.

Frustrated, and realizing how his dickish drunken behavior may have made her feel uncomfortable, he opened his mouth to apologize. "Caroline, I-"

Klaus was cut short as he felt a rush of air and her lips crashed onto his. He froze in surprise for a millisecond, but the quickly wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hungrily. He opened his mouth and she parted her lips and sighed, allowing him access into her mouth. They kissed passionately, Klaus feeling her warmth and affection pouring into him. They kissed for what felt like hours, but it wasn't enough, as the cabbie loudly cleared his throat, cutting them off.

"Oops," Caroline said with her eyes wide. "I didn't mean to do that."

"It's quite alright love." Klaus smiled. "I enjoyed it." He was lying. He hadn't just enjoyed it; kissing her consumed him, awakening feelings and emotions he didn't know he had.

_Oh, the humanity of it all_, Klaus thought, chuckling to himself at his lame pun. He got out of the cab, still teetering slightly. He suddenly gasped, realizing something as he turned to shut the door.

"Are you okay?" asked Caroline with concern, seeing the expression of centuries worth of sadness on his face. She hoped her kiss hadn't affected him that badly.

"Nothing, love." He sighed and looked away. "It's just," he stopped for a second and then continued resignedly. "I'm so drunk I'm not going to remember this in the morning." He looked away, the sadness registering on his face.

"Oh," was all Caroline could say, as he shut the door and stumbled into his home. One of the reasons she had kissed him was because she knew he wouldn't remember it in the morning. But seeing him at his most vulnerable had touched her. But there were too many things in the way of them getting together.

_Maybe it was for the best that they both forgot about this evening_, Caroline thought, shaking her head sadly as the cab pulled out of the driveway, casting it's headlights into the depths of the night.

* * *

**A/N: So here it is! My first attempt at writing something interesting. Please let me know what you think! I love criticism/anything you can tell me to make my writing better!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Drunk!Klaus Klaroline drabble part 2**

Warm sheets covered his body, gently caressing him. He was floating on a pile of clouds, a light summer breeze slipping through the open window, carrying sparrow song and sounds of summer into his bedroom. All was peaceful, all was well.

Until a massive wave of pain and nausea slammed into Klaus's brain, causing him to groan in agony as he raced to his bathroom to throw up.

* * *

Klaus's hands pawed drowsily through his medicine cabinet, knocking over various pill bottles. _Damn, where is the aspirin?_ He thought, reaching up to clutch his head as a fresh wave of pain crashed through his brain. This whole hangover thing would've been a whole bloody hell of a lot easier if he could remember where he kept the aspirin.

Actually, now that he thought about it, it would be nice to remember any bit of last night. He knew he and Elijah had been drinking in Kol's honor. He remembered them drunkenly swapping stories of Kol's exploits in the Middle Ages, laughing uproariously at their younger brother's antics. Then they had seen Damon Salvatore come in for a drink. No, that wasn't quite right. He had been alone when he had seen Damon. He remembered something about a fight and Elijah leaving. Shaking his head as he stumbled down the stairs, he tried to sort through his fuzzy thoughts and memories. At the moment, the last thing he could remember was walking over to annoy the older Salvatore.

"Good morning, Niklaus," Elijah greeted him, not looking up from his newspaper as Klaus ambled into the kitchen. "I trust you are not feeling, ah, shall we say, well-rested after your late night?"

"Where's the aspirin?" Klaus growled, scowling, as Elijah chuckled quietly. "Yes, now that you mention it, I'm not feeling 'well-rested', as you put it so kindly, so be a good brother and inform me where we keep our medicine."

"Oh Niklaus, so touchy in the morning. Cabinet above the sink." Klaus nodded his head, a scowl still on his face. A thought occurred to Klaus after he downed the medicine.

"Thank you brother. For getting me home last night." Klaus muttered uncomfortably.

"Hmmmm…. Interesting."

"What's so bloody interesting?"

"It seems that for once, I was not the one cleaning up after your mess Niklaus."

"But that's not possible. I was so drunk; someone must have taken me home. It must have been-"

"It wasn't me, Nik." Rebekah said matter-of-factly as she waltzed into the kitchen. "I have better things to do than stop your drunk arse from terrorizing the town folk. In fact, I think I might encourage it, if it got rid of your precious doppelganger and the Salvatores."

_The Salvatores!_ Klaus thought, a hazy memory of his conversation with Damon flooding back to him.

* * *

"_Klaus, buddy, you're drunk. Go home before you decide you need a little something stronger to drink."_

"_But that's the fun of it! Don't tell me you aren't dying to sink your fangs into a pretty little neck and relish in the pleasure of the feed?"_

"_Nope." Damon replied, popping the p._

"_Ah, yes, your concern with what Elena might think. I don't know why you bother, really. It doesn't make sense, her love for you. It can't just be the sire bond. You've killed so many people she's loved, but she's forgiven you still. How did you do it? Compulsion or manipulation? What did you say? How did you make her forget?" Klaus's tone slipped into sadness, not realizing how desperate and drunk he sounded._

_Damon just looked at him, understanding slowly dawning on his face. "You're afraid that Blondie will never forgive you for what you did to Carol. A little advice: you might want to stop killing people she loves."_

"_Is that what you did?"_

"_Partly. I mean, I'm bad to fill a role. To save everyone's life. You're bad just to be a dick. Besides, I love Elena. She can see that."_

"_Ah, but she can't really see how wrong she is! Stefan is her better option by far. His love for that one girl was stronger than my compulsion. Now that's love. Once this sire bond is broken, she'll finally come to her sense and go back to Stefan."_

_Damon's eyes darkened in anger. "If you think I'm so wrong for Elena, then there is no way in hell that you are ever going to be right for Caroline." He downed his drink and got up. "Screw you, dick." Damon turned and stormed out of the Mystic Grill._

_Klaus watched him as he went, the gravity of what he was saying finally sinking in to his addled brain. It was true, what Damon said. There was never really going to be a chance for him and Caroline. To him, love was what Elena and Stefan have, or had, more accurately. It was trust and unwavering loyalty to one other, no matter what the other person did. He and Caroline would never have that. And that thought made the night infinitely more depressing. He turned and compelled the bartender to give him the bottle of alcohol. He needed this tonight._

* * *

"Hello, earth to Nik!" Rebekah snapped. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Sorry, little sister, sometimes all I hear is a low buzzing sound when your mouth is moving."

"Arse!" she slapped him playfully. "Well, I need you to drive me to the school. It's for the decade dance set-up! I'm on the committee, and if I'm not there those fools will spoil all of my hard work."

"Can't you just get a ride from a friend or something?" Klaus murmured, still not over his hangover. He glanced over at Rebekah, who had suddenly glanced away and lowered her head. "Oh, I see. Poor Rebekah doesn't have any friends. I guess that's just too bad for-"

"Caroline will be there." Rebekah interjected.

Klaus hesitated, pretending to think it over. But they both knew that he would go. He sighed as he grabbed his car keys and headed to the garage, Rebekah skipping happily behind him.

* * *

"The 80's? This isn't at all what the 80's looked like!" Protested Klaus. "For one, they wer much tackier and the hair was god-awful. And all these balloons? It's pathetic really, the petty human things you do."

"Well, I missed out on the 80's, thanks to a very dear older brother, so I am going to soak up every minute of this cultural experience." Rebekah harrumphed.

"Whatever, Bekah. I'm leaving." Klaus stalked away, kicking balloons in disgust and moaning slightly under his breath as another wave of pain split his head. He put on his sunglasses to protect his eyes from the bright, fluorescent lights.

"Klaus?" A soft voice called out, echoing in the hallway.

Klaus turned to look at the radiant blonde before him. "Caroline. What are you doing here, love?"

"Um, I'm on the dance set-up committee. Your sister only thinks she's in charge, but I have way more experience planning these kinds of things." She ranted in a huff, her waves of blond hair bouncing as she gestured. She took a deep breath, and looked at him searchingly. "How are you? I mean, being hung-over isn't on my list of fun things to do."

Klaus's chuckle was cut short as a thought occurred to him. "How did you know I was hung-over?"

"Um, the sunglasses?" She replied, shifting her feet.

"No, that's not it." Klaus murmured, taking off his sunglasses and moving closer to her. She looked even more uncomfortable, crossing her arms, her gaze darting to the side. Realization eventually dawned on Klaus. "You were the one who took me home last night!"

"No! I umm…" she paused. "Fine, it was me." She sighed, relaxing her shoulders in defeat.

"Now, why would you do a thing like that, sweetheart?" Klaus whispered, half to her, half to himself. He inched closer to Caroline, drawn in by the intrigue.

"Damon called me, telling me not to under any circumstances go to the grill. He told me that you were there. He sounded pretty upset. Did you say something to him?"

"Perhaps. But that doesn't explain why you came anyways."

He watched her face in fascination as she continued, looking at him quizzically. "You really don't remember? Well, I happen to actually like this town, and I don't exactly trust you around people I care about right now." She glared at him, subtly reminding him of his past misdeeds.

Ignoring her attempts at sidetracking him, he pressed on. "No, that's not the reason. Taking on a drunk original vampire-werewolf hybrid who could kill you in less than a second?"

"I could take you!" She blustered, eyes flashing.

"I admire your bravery love. But when you want to tell me the real reason you helped me, I'll be waiting." He watched her sharply draw in a breath, realizing how they had been unconsciously moving closer together, and that they were only a few inches apart. "Goodbye for now, Caroline" he breathed gently, allowing himself to inhale her scent deeply. He turned away, smiling in triumph as Caroline remained frozen in shock.

Her smell was still in his head. It reminded him of how they had talked last night. _Well, of course they had talked last night,_ he thought as he rounded a corner. She had taken him home. But there was something else, a little nagging half-memory.

Klaus's footsteps stopped as it all came rushing back, new thoughts and memories swirling freely in his mind. Their discussion, the bar, the cab, the kiss. The Kiss? Klaus could remember it now, he could feel his lips on hers, remembering her softness and the way she had moved her lips against his.

In a blur he was back in front of Caroline, who was still standing in the same position as she had been in when he had left. He took her in his arms, and pressed his lips to hers. Gently at first, he deepened the kiss, grinning as she responded eagerly. He could feel her in perfect clarity now. Every touch, every sensation was a vivid picture of colors and pure feeling. He body was pressed against his, her hands in his hair. He felt her passion pouring into him, lighting his soul on fire.

He pulled away, gasping for air. He gazed at Caroline, who was also breathing heavily, her eyes dazed, her cheeks flushed and an adorable shade of pink. Her eyes widened in shock as she looked at Klaus, a question in her eyes.

"I just wanted to say thank you for last night. You see, most of the time, fantasy is better than reality. But I just wanted to let you know, being with you… reality is definitely better than anything my imagination could have come up with." He looked at her sincerely, trying to catch her eye as she glanced away.

She gulped nervously. "Klaus... you can't kiss me again…" She said, not able to look him in the eye.

"If I recall correctly, love, it was you who kissed me the first time." He reminded her.

"We can't… I can't…"

"Oh, I know that." Klaus said in annoyance. "Perfect Miss mystic falls, seen kissing the mass murder hybrid." Klaus said bitterly, turning away from Caroline.

"Klaus, not just that… I mean me and Tyler, we're still…"

Klaus looked her in the eye with a look of crushing loneliness. He was a drowning man, struggling for a lifeline. He quickly masked his emotions with an indifferent smirk as he chuckled without humor. "Oh, I know love. But you're a vampire. You've kissed me once, tasted all the adventure that your life could be. A life full of travel, adventure, excitement, genuine beauty. You could feel a world of genuine beauty, in reach of your fingertips. From now on, every time you kiss him, you will remember that you could have had more than a small town life. The longing will grow so intense, one day in the future, you will show up on my doorstep, begging me to show you all the world has to offer." He said darkly, an intense look in his eye burning a hole in Caroline.

She took a second before bursting with outrage. "No! It's not because of that. I love him! And you're a maddening, egotistical asshole!"

"So I've been told, love." Klaus remarked as he put on his sunglasses and strode away. On the outside, he looked like the picture of clam, like an untouchable movie star. But if one looked underneath the sunglasses, they might see a single tear falling on his cheek.

* * *

**A/N: So here it is! I'm sorry for ending it on a note like that. It's just, when I'm writing canon Klaroline, it just seems natural to give them this sort of relationship. I've changed the title of this thing from Finding Your Way Home to Klaroline Short Stories because I just love writing little blurbs of them, and I will update whenever the muse strikes. I personally think they are the funnest couple to write because their relationship is so ****combative.**

**Anyways, THANK YOU GUYS! Without your encouragement, I don't think I ever would have written this. I am currently in progress on a Delena AU/AH multi-chapter fan fiction, and as you guys can probably tell, I need a beta to help me with all the grammatical errors and to tell me when something isn't explained clearly enough. Also, I already have like 5 chapters written out in my notebook, and I have the whole story planned out, but I need someone to just yell at me until I type it up LOL. PM me if you are interested. **

**Finally, a special shout out to my first reviewer ever Mystery Girl3! That meant so much to me.**


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